Vacuum operated industrial waste collection and disposal apparatus is broadly known in the prior art. Some examples of the patented prior art are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,541,631 and 3,842,461. In the latter patent issued to Wurster, incoming solid materials entrained in a suction air stream are recognized to contain a high liquid content in some instances and the apparatus disclosed is adapted to handle both dry or wet solid waste materials. Some of the drawbacks of the known prior art are set forth in the text of the Wurster patent. The chief drawback of the prior art is inefficiency caused by the fact that waste collection machines collect debris in some form of trap chamber and the machine must be shut down periodically to dump or clean out this chamber. In some systems, almost half of the time during use is consumed by cleaning or dumping. Another prior art deficiency is the absence of an effective hose and pipe coupling of simplified construction, yet rugged enough to withstand the industrial use and abuse which is inevitable in practice. In most cases, bolted flanges or slip joints held together by clamping rings are employed. Repeated coupling and uncoupling rapidly causes damage to these customary coupling structures.
The objective of the present invention is to improve on the known prior art, including the Wurster patent, in terms of a more efficient and more economical apparatus and method which can dispose more expeditiously of greater amounts of industrial or other bulk wastes. Some applications of the invention include the removal of flyash from coal fired boiler penthouses, removal of bulk wastes from steel mills, foundries, paper mills and the like.
A key feature of the method and apparatus embodying the present invention involves flooding the solid waste material with water as it is taken into the apparatus to create a waste slurry, as distinguished from merely dampening the dry waste. The slurry is then spun in a separator to remove air, and the slurry drops into a tank where it is continually pumped to a suitable remote disposal site. The air, upon leaving the separator, enters a surge chamber where it is spun, expanded and further dried and the dry clean air then passes through a positive displacement vacuum producer and then serially through a silencer to atmosphere. The system is designed to remove vast amounts of waste material from confined spaces and elsewhere. The apparatus is preferably on a vehicular base but can be stationary.
Various features and details of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description.